Diyero Rube
Rube, Diyero Rube, Diyero The protagonist of Rune Master (and the source of the story's title), Diyero is a fairly young and inexperienced adventurer with a lot of formal training of various backgrounds. He has skills to hold his own in a fight and great survival instincts (and a TON of outright dumb luck), but has yet to prove himself as a great warrior. He decided to take on the task of demon slaying partly for the excitement and partly to carry on the tradition of his family (mother's side), who have a long line of great demon killers going back many generations. Though he overall has good intentions at heart, his goofy nature and bad habits tend to leave a negative impression on most people. The young Half-Duendo picked up a bad drinking habit at 18 and is already infamous for being constantly buzzed or drunk, and spends much of his time womanizing. This habit has begun to change in recent months. Some weeks after meeting Kalanu, Diyero discovered the barmaid had a talent for magic, but didn't know much Archaic to cast spells. An arcane enthusiast himself, Diyero offered to teach her the language, and Kalanu agreed -- on the condition that he remained sober. This exchange went well for a while, until events at a village festival caused the two to become estranged. Diyero had a lapse in his dry period, but has made a comeback and continues to recover from alcoholism and womanizing. =History= In Chapter 2 of Book II, Diyero returns to his tribe, the Maawio-Atatu. While there, he reunites with his father, Jabin and discovers he has a stepmother and half-brother. During this visit, Diyero finally starts sharing his past with his friends, including the fact that Diyero is not his real name - "Thimba" is. He was born and raised in the village, the only son of Jabin and Penda. Close to his mother, Diyero/Thimba gained a deep love of history and legends from his mother's storytelling. He lived happily with his parents until his coming-of-age ceremony at age 12. Soon after Diyero got tattooed and his hair dyed for the first time, the Maawio-Atatu tribe was attacked by slavers. In the chaos, Diyero witnessed his mother's murder and was knocked out by a steel club, which resulted in his broken nose. Later, Diyero woke up on a slave ship bound for Estero. After landing, he managed to escape the slave sales, only to be chased by slaver guards who noticed him slipping away. Eventually trapped into a dead-end, Diyero fought off two of the guards. The third was taken out by Zhaa, a Half-Vorgess warrior. Zhaa took Diyero in and enrolled him at the Stimato Fighter-Mage Academy he taught melee combat at. There Diyero learned sword fighting, rune magic, demon lore, and a few new languages (Trade, Archaic, and Demonic). He graduated from the school at age 21, earning a degree in Rune Scribing and Demon Lore. Diyero left the city a few months later. Shortly after his departure from Estero, Diyero met Kogeru and Mushin. This event was detailed in Chapter 9 of Book I: the Senjose pair were attacked by a cacus; Kogeru was rendered unconscious, leaving Diyero to rescue Mushin and slay the monster. Out of gratitude for his aid, Kogeru decided to follow Diyero in his travels. Initially a little hesitant to allow a near-stranger into his fold, Diyero soon agreed, figuring some odd company was better than none. A year into his travels with the two Senjose, Diyero finally left Aust and headed for Vestin. This is where the events of Rune Master begin. =Trivia= *He is ambidextrous. *His crack about Kogeru's "mummy-hands" is a reference to the fact the Ancients used to mummify and wrap up their richer and more important dead; the average Ehrdian doesn't have much knowledge of the Ancients, so the "mummy-hands" comment confuses Kogeru. *Despite what his goofy attitude may make others think, Diyero is actually the most educated out of the main characters -- who are all fairly well educated to begin with. *Diyero adores children, holding a great deal of patience and fondness for them. This should come as little surprise, seeing as Diyero himself is really just a child at heart. *His real name, "Thimba" means "Lion hunter" in his native dialect of Duendai. *The name "Diyero Rube" was given to him by Zhaa to make him seem like a "freed" Duendo and less like a missing slave - in Quarto, born-free Duendo often have Druden names. *"Diyero" is a distortion of the Druden name "Fiyero," which means "brash." Zhaa chose to alter the first letter because the smart-mouthed child was "'D'angerously close to pissing (me) off" while trying to rename Thimba. Diyero chooses to keep the name to this day because he likes it; he only uses "Thimba" when talking to people from his tribe and/or family.